1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical communication system designed to operate at an ultra high bit rate and, more particularly, to a system in which all operations are performed by optical devices at speeds too high for conventional electronic components to operate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Current communication systems which include both electrical and optical components operate at bit rates of from 10 megabits per second (Mb/s) to 2.5 gigabits per second (Gb/s). These rates, while sufficient for today's needs, are too slow for the high bit rate traffic data highways planned for the near future. The data highways of the future will require systems capable of bit rates of at least 100 Gb/s with 500 Gb/s a desired goal. Such bit rates are too fast for conventional electronic components. In addition, the data highways need to be capable of operating over transcontinental and transoceanic distances and, thus, need to be capable of transmitting high bit rate solitons.